But not everyone is struggling during these turbulent times. It’s been reported Facebook CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg is the highest paid CEO for a North American company.
In 2012, Zuckerberg pocketed approximately 2.28 billion dollars. The majority of this didn’t come from advertising, but from stock options. To put this in perspective, 2.28 billion is almost as much as the other nine highest paid CEOs combined (that came up to 4.7 billion). A year ago, Facebook’s stocks were around $17 a share. As of today, October 23, 2013, it stands at around $52 a share. But as early as 2005, during Facebook’s infancy, Zuckerberg exercised stock options at just six cents a pop. When Facebook went public in spring 2012, those stocks were worth over 2.7 billion dollars. If you’re wondering, Apple CEO Tim Cook ranked fifth on this list.
It’s impressive that someone not even 30 years old made this list and has already changed the world forever. It’s also impressive he’s investing in projects, like making sure anyone who wants online access can have it regardless of cost and/or location. But I thought more tech giant CEOs and general managers would have made the list. Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff made ninth on the list. Where’s the Google CEO? Aren’t their stocks in record numbers? Where’s Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos? Where’s Bill Gates? Why aren’t they on this list?